FSU football: Impact of transfer Braden Fiske FSU commitment

A month ago, I wrote about the need for FSU football coaches to look to the transfer portal for help at the defensive tackle position going into the 2023 season.

Robert Cooper exhausted eligibility, and Fabien Lovett could head to the NFL, which left little experience and not enough difference-makers at defensive tackle.

The first transfer portal addition was defensive tackle Darrell Jackson from Miami. Jackson is a solid player that will help the young defensive players quite a bit next season.

FSU coaches had their eye on another option, Braden Fiske, ranked as the No. 1 defensive tackle in the portal. Fiske officially visited a couple of weeks ago and narrowed his top three schools to FSU, USC, and Notre Dame.

Notre Dame was the favorite since it was close to where he grew up, but he committed to the Noles Monday. It was a great post-Christmas gift and one that will help sure up the defensive line whether Fabien Lovett returns or not.

If Lovett returns, the defensive line would be much better than in 2022. However, Fiske brings four years of experience, with 59 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss, six sacks, and seven QB hurries in 12 games last season. Fiske has one year of eligibility left, which means he can help the FSU defense make a run for the ACC Conference Title and beyond.

Also, he’ll allow the younger defensive linemen like Daniel Lyons, Bishop Thomas, Ayobami Tifase, Dennis Briggs, and others a chance to keep developing without carrying too much workload in 2023.

Those guys should improve this off-season too, which means there shouldn’t be quite as big of a drop-off when they enter the game compared to this season.

Fiske is a disrupter up the middle, penetrating and collapsing the pocket up the middle, where FSU football struggled last season, especially in their three losses.

Fiske should help overall and in short-yardage situations in the run game. Not only that, but FSU landing Fiske continues to support the narrative that FSU are kings of the transfer portal. They have the No. 1 transfer portal class with seven additions, with a few more targets remaining.